Woman jailed for sexual offences against children in Bexhill and Crawley

Sally Ann Dixon, 58, of Swanmore Avenue, Havant, Hants, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court after being convicted of 30 indecent assaults against her victims, police said.

She was given an 18-year custodial sentence, with an additional two years to be served on extended licence.

A Judge ordered at least two thirds of the sentence must be served in custody.

Dixon will also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely.

The five girls and two boys, who were aged under the age of 16 during the period of abuse in the 1980s and 1990s, were abused in Crawley, Bexhill and an East Sussex village , Sussex Police said.

Dixon was also found not guilty of four indecent assaults.

At the time of the offences, Dixon was John Stephen Dixon, who transitioned to female in 2004 - after the period during which the offences took place, police said.

Detective Constable Amy Pooley of the Sussex Police Complex Abuse Unit said: "Dixon came to know these vulnerable young children successively, and used that trusted access to systematically abuse each of them for sexual gratification, in some cases for several months at a time.

"Only when one of the victims eventually came to us in 2019 was the terrible and distressing nature of Dixon's offending over many years finally uncovered.

"This case shows again that we will always follow up such reports, no matter how long ago the events are said to have happened, to support victims and to see if we can achieve justice for them wherever the evidence justifies that."